Puma gives France a kick-start
To the uninitiated, which coach belongs to which camp might be a little confusing when France host the Pumas in Marseilles on Saturday, but les Bleus' Argentinean kicking coach says he will be able to separate the feelings in his heart from his professional duties.
To the uninitiated, which coach belongs to which camp might be a little confusing when France host the Pumas in Marseilles on Saturday, but les Bleus' Argentinean kicking coach says he will be able to separate the feelings in his heart from his professional duties.
The off-the-field scores seem to even. Though many eyes have focused on the 'defection' of former France scrum-half and Stade Français coach Fabien Galthié to the Pumas camp as a technical assistant, Gonzalo Quesada will be setting his patriotic feelings aside to make sure the hosts' kicking game is the best it can be.
“A lot of people speak to me about this week,” the 34-year-old, who was the top points scorer at the 1999 World Cup, told the AFP.
“Me, I have at my heart to do the best job possible and to see what I put in place everything I prepared. But I am still Argentinean, it is the team in my heart and I am not lying to myself.”
With 36 national caps to his name, Quesada is also no stranger to French rugby having spent time in Narbonne, Beziers, Paris, Pau and Toulon.
He feels that it was normal for France to have a specialist kicking coach.
“The three big Southern Hemisphere nations [Australia, New Zealand and South Africa] already have their kicking coach,” said Quesada, who was on trial in June for France's tour of Australia.
“And the French backroom staff believed that it was an area where they should develop.”
The South American kicking guru has been working with four players: fly-halves Francois Trinh-Duc and Lionel Beauxis, scrum-half Morgan Parra and full-back Maxime Medard. Both Beauxis and Trinh-Duc (who was expected to play at inside centre, have been ruled out of the clash by injury and have been replaced David Skrela and Damien Traille.
“It is very difficult to find two players with a similar kicking game,” explained Quesada.
“There is a very clear bio-mechanical basis: the kick is a complete movement of the body, it is not just about the legs. Each kicker is used to his own habits, to give it his usual kick.”
Quesada said that the new laws introduced other problems for the kickers.
“The fact that we can't kick directly into touch after being passed the ball has rapidly pushed us into kind of tennis matches,” said Quesada.
“That means the kicks have to be really precise, if not, we get rid of the ball and we can quickly give the ball to our opponent.”
While Quesada is a fan of France's traditional running game, Head Coach and former France flank Marc Lièvremont, wants to add more variety to les Bleus game.
“The coaching team wanted to expand the breadth of the game, with a mix of kicking and passing phases,” said Quesada.
“They understood that in order to have a good overall strategy, we should have a strong kicking game so that the opposing sides cannot be satisfied to defend solely on the first wave of attack.”
Quesada said that despite the Pumas' extraordinary recent record over France – six wins from last seven matches – the match should be too close to call.
“The Argentineans are undergoing the same difficulties as France,” he said.
“There has been a change of coach, of players, and a bad recent run with two losses in Argentina against Scotland and Italy and a dreadful defeat against South Africa [9-63].
“For the two teams, it will be a crucial match, which can bring both assurance and serenity to the backroom staff.”